Most of the
astrological predictions are worded deliberately vague. It is this inherent
vagueness that turns out to be the biggest strength of astrologers since it
defies experimental verification, a basic requirement for any science.

Anyway, let
us try our hands at generating statistics to critically examine astrological
conclusions. Positions of planets, Sun and the Moon against the backdrop of the
Zodiacal constellations at the time of the birth of a person is supposed to
determine their destiny, right? Now, let us take the case of astronauts – Only a
dozen men have ever set foot on another world. They are the crew members of the
six Apollo missions that landed on the Moon between 1969 and 1972. Surely the
planetary configurations during their respective birthdates must have had been
similar to have given rise to their similar destinies? Given below are the
birthdates and the planetary configurations of these dozen who walked on the
Moon – (these are actual positions taking the precession of the Earth’s spin
axis into account)

Table 1. Positions of the Sun,
Moon and Planets among the Zodiacal constellations at the birthdates of the 12
astronauts who walked on the Moon.

Astronaut

Birthdate

Sun

Moon

Mercury

Venus

Mars

Jupiter

Saturn

Neil
Armstrong

August 5,
1930

Cancer

Sagittarius

Leo

Leo

Taurus

Gemini

Sagittarius

Buzz
Aldrin

January 20,
1930

Capricorn

Virgo

Capricorn

Capricorn

Sagittarius

Taurus

Sagittarius

Pete
Conrad

June 2,
1930

Taurus

Leo

Taurus

Gemini

Pisces

Taurus

Sagittarius

Alan
Bean

March 15,
1932

Aquarius

Aries

Pisces

Aries

Aquarius

Cancer

Capricorn

Ed
Mitchell

September 17,
1930

Leo

Gemini

Leo

Libra

Gemini

Gemini

Sagittarius

Dave
Scott

June 6,
1932

Taurus

Gemini

Taurus

Gemini

Aries

Cancer

Capricorn

Jim
Irwin

March 17,
1930

Pisces

Virgo

Aquarius

Pisces

Aquarius

Taurus

Sagittarius

John
Young

September 24,
1930

Virgo

Virgo

Virgo

Libra

Gemini

Gemini

Sagittarius

Charlie
Duke

October 3,
1935

Virgo

Scorpio

Virgo

Leo

Scorpio

Libra

Aquarius

Alan
Shepard

November 18,
1923

Libra

Pisces

Libra

Scorpio

Virgo

Libra

Virgo

Gene
Carnan

March 14,
1934

Pisces

Aquarius

Aquarius

Capricorn

Pisces

Virgo

Capricorn

Harrison
Schmitt

July 3,
1935

Gemini

Cancer

Taurus

Leo

Virgo

Libra

Aquarius

Can one see any pattern in the planetary
configurations at their birthdates? Surely not? Hold on though, is there
something significant in the fact that Saturn was in Sagittarius at the time of
birth of most of these astronauts? Not really, as a little analysis will show.
The birth dates seem to be clustered around 1930. Why would that be? Well, the
Apollo missions were concentrated between the years 1969 and 1972. Quite likely
that most of the astronauts recruited around that time would be close in age, so
nothing significant in the clustering around 1930 that is seen. Now, Saturn is a
planet with an orbital period round the Sun of a little less than 30 years. It
is quite natural for Saturn to stay near the same Zodiacal constellation
fora few years in its slow motion
through the Zodiac. In many instances where astrologers point out significant
correlations (as in the infamous Mars effect where someone found Mars to be in
some particular constellation for athletes) could have similar explanation by
looking closely at honest data.

One can
look at alternate data that is not likely to be plagued with such bias. Listed
below are the birthdates of a number of Nobel Laureates who had received the
peace prize. Again, astrologically speaking, we should expect to see some
correlation in the planetary positions on these dates, which we do not
see.

Table 2. Positions of Sun,
Moon and Planets among the Zodiacal constellations during the birth dates of
some Nobel Laureates for Peace.

Nobel
Laureate

Date of
Birth

Sun

Moon

Mercury

Venus

Mars

Jupiter

Saturn

Mother
Teresa

August 27,
1910

Leo

Taurus

Leo

Cancer

Leo

Virgo

Pisces

Lech
Walesa

September 29,
1943

Virgo

Virgo

Leo

Leo

Taurus

Leo

Taurus

Andrei
Sakharov

May 21,
1921

Taurus

Libra

Taurus

Pisces

Taurus

Leo

Leo

Norman E.
Borlaug

March 25,
1914

Pisces

Aquarius

Aquarius

Pisces

Gemini

Capricorn

Taurus

Martin Luther King
Jr.

January 15,
1929

Sagittarius

Aquarius

Capricorn

Aquarius

Taurus

Pisces

Sagittarius

Linus
Pauling

Febraury 28,
1901

Aquarius

Gemini

Pisces

Aquarius

Leo

Sagittarius

Sagittarius

Dag
Hammarskjold

July 29,
1905

Cancer

Gemini

Leo

Taurus

Libra

Taurus

Aquarius

Albert
Schweitzer

January 14,
1875

Capricorn

Pisces

Capricorn

Scorpio

Libra

Virgo

Capricorn

Theodore
Roosevelt

October 27,
1858

Virgo

Gemini

Virgo

Scorpio

Sagittarius

Taurus

Cancer

Henry La
Fontaine

April 22,
1854

Pisces

Aquarius

Pisces

Aquarius

Leo

Capricorn

Taurus

Thomas Woodrow
Wilson

December 28,
1856

Sagittarius

Sagittarius

Sagittarius

Capricorn

Capricorn

Pisces

Gemini

Fritjof
Nansen

October 10,
1861

Virgo

Sagittarius

Libra

Libra

Virgo

Leo

Leo

Arthur
Henderson

September 13,
1863

Leo

Leo

Virgo

Virgo

Leo

Virgo

Virgo

Carlos Saavedra
Lamas

November 1,
1878

Libra

Capricorn

Libra

Virgo

Virgo

Capricorn

Pisces

Carl Von
Ossietzky

October 3,
1889

Virgo

Capricorn

Virgo

Leo

Leo

Sagittarius

Leo

Cordell
Hull

October 2,
1871

Virgo

Taurus

Leo

Virgo

Scorpio

Gemini

Sagittarius

Emily Greene
Balch

January 8,
1867

Sagittarius

Capricorn

Sagittarius

Scorpio

Gemini

Capricorn

Libra

Betty
Williams

May 22,
1943

Taurus

Sagittarius

Taurus

Gemini

Pisces

Gemini

Taurus

Henry
Kissinger

May 27,
1923

Taurus

Virgo

Taurus

Aries

Gemini

Libra

Virgo

This exercise can be endless. Try it for any such
list of people and you are sure to see that no patterns exist in the planetary
positions, or if at all any faint pattern emerges, it will have a very mundane
explanation as in the case of the Astronauts.

By the way,
it will be a very simple matter to find out the planetary positions for dates in
history. There exist a number of planetarium software, made freely available by
dedicated astronomers and educators, which does this job for you in a simple
manner. There is a wonderful shareware called skyglobe, produced by
KlassM Software, a demo version of which can be downloaded from http://www.seds.org/ Using such software, you
can look at the planetary, or stellar positions in the sky in history, as well
as a few thousand years in future. All this is astronomy, or rather, celestial
mechanics, nothing to do with astrology. Anyway, trying to look at possible
patterns emerging during birthdates of famous people could be an interesting
senior school statistics project to do and could quickly demonstrate the
falsehood of astrology. Students who may be thinking of enrolling for
astrological courses, particularly, may do well to look at such simple
statistics before making a tricky career decision.